The new and customarily huge novel by British SF colossus Peter F. Hamilton. The Dreaming Void is the first in a new space opera trilogy taking place in Hamilton's Commonwealth universe, some thousand or so years following the events of Pandora's Star and Judas Unchained.

Big hefty trilogies are generally the structure of choice for fantasy stories – indeed, these days a stand alone fantasy novel is a rare animal indeed. Conversely, the average size of a science fiction novel is hard to quantify, but most SF authors manage to come up with novels that won't do you serious injury should you accidentally drop a copy on your foot! Not so, Peter F. Hamilton... but then, Peter F. Hamilton is not "most authors". His new novel The Dreaming Void offers his readers all the excitement and adventure they could hope for in one of his epic, panoramic, widescreen space operas, all neatly contained in the customary package of a book so heavy that it could kill you if it landed on your head.

The Dreaming Void, is the first in a new sequence of three novels that takes place in Hamilton's Commonwealth Universe, a setting familiar to those readers who tackled the two enormous novels Pandora's Star and Judas Unchained, Hamilton's most recent works and also to readers of Misspent Youth, Hamilton's uncharacteristically short 2002 novel. Given that I'd only read the latter (reviewed here), The Dreaming Void was a particular challenge for me – Hamilton's storyscapes are massive and complex, involved and involving. At the same time, Hamilton's new work, with it's epic, sprawling narrative is extraordinarily engaging and the curious reader is able to ease into it quite painlessly. Only when certain historical events of the Commonwealth are referred to or the occasional recurring character of reputation makes an appearance, can things get a little patchy – we don't know who these legendary people are or what it is they did - but that doesn't really effect one's involvement in the story – you can dive right in with this new novel. Indeed with such huge plot lines interweaving - not only internally but between these gargantuan novels, it is quite amazing how Hamilton keeps his story focused and directed.

As one might imagine, a book of this size and scope has a multi-layered plot and plenty of names in its dramatis personae, many of whom share their particular viewpoint with us. The central plot concerns the eponymous void, a black hole in which the laws of physics are distorted and which threatens to expand, engulfing habitable space. An organised church has sprung up, one with many millions of adherents spread far and wide over known space, all of whom believe in a life beyond The Void, as dreamed of by The Dreamer, a messianic figure who has withdrawn from society. The church makes a pronouncement – that they will build ships and take their followers into the void, where their dreams of a better existence will become reality. News of this pilgrimage is dismaying however, and to just about anyone who isn't a follower of the church, it would seem. Hamilton's story then tells of the politics and intrigues that abound around and between the various factions – human, alien, advanced human, AI - who might benefit or be endangered by the pilgrimage.

No synopsis can condense a Peter F. Hamilton novel satisfactorily. This stuff is as big as SF can get whilst remaining coherent and the most surprising (and admirable) thing of all is that, given its size, this long novel held my interest unequivocally for its entire duration. Inevitably there are patches when the paces slows and examples of infodump and bumpy prose but this enterprise is unapologetically SF spectacle, not SF art. There is something that is infinitely accessible about Hamilton's work – essentially The Dreaming Void is "Soap Opera Space Opera". Be assured though that this no denigration, for The Soap is an art form that is entirely about the now aspect of a story, the in the moment immediacy of character action and interaction and it does its job extremely well. Why do you think there are so many soaps and why does it remain a worldwide, ever popular dramatic form? Whatever the answer to that may be, Peter F. Hamilton has encapsulated it once again in The Dreaming Void and his reign as the king of British Science Fiction (a title Macmillan's marketing department have bestowed upon him) looks to be in no danger of coming to an end.

We're interested in your feedback. Just fill out the form below and we'll add your comments as soon as we can look them over. Due to the number of SPAM containing links, any comments containing links will be filtered out by our system. Please do not include links in your message.